The city population figures do not include the estimated 10,000 American military personnel and their dependents stationed at Misawa Air Base.

Misawa is located in the flatlands on the southern shore of Lake Ogawara on the east coast of Aomori Prefecture, facing the Pacific Ocean.

Though short, autumn is beautiful with pleasant temperatures, late-blooming flowers, and the changing colors of the trees.

As the ice and snow clear and the ground dries, dust storms become a hazard near farm fields.

[3] Per Japanese census data,[6] the population of Misawa has remained relatively stable in recent decades.

The area around Misawa has been occupied since the Japanese Paleolithic period, and was a major population center for the Emishi people.

The Nanbu established numerous horse ranches, accompanied by a series of numbered fortified settlements in the region.

In 1931, in the first successful nonstop transpacific flight, Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon, in the airplane Miss Veedol, took off from Misawa's Sabishiro Beach and landed in present-day East Wenatchee, Washington in the United States.

In the year 2000, Misawa hosted the winter events for the 55th annual National Sports Festival of Japan.

Misawa has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature of 18 members.

In terms of national politics, the city is part of Aomori 2nd district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.